If you work relatively long hours and seem to have suddenly developed some posture and back pain issues, don’t blame your life or the fact that you have to work for a living. Instead, take a good look at your chair design, and therein you may find the culprit! I’m serious! Most posture related issues, especially among the workforce, can be traced back to bad chair designs. This is not to say that chair manufacturers wantonly create bad designs. It has more to do with the fact that with time, and with usage, even the best designed chairs can degenerate to become furniture with a bad attitude!

What goes into a good chair design in the first place? For starters, a good chair design is characterized by the fact that it is comfortable to sit in, has certain functionality that it serves well and finally looks pleasing and good. Comfortable to sit in is not necessarily the best thing for good posture! For instance, a couch is definitely comfortable to sit in. But try doing some work on a laptop while sitting in the couch. You’ll find yourself seeking some firmer back support before long.

With regard to the functionality, chairs that are used by office goers have to accommodate their weight for long periods of time. Especially in today’s driven workplaces, where working late has more or less become the norm, a good chair design is one that can keep the employee sitting comfortably, even after extended hours of usage. In technical terms, a chair that has good chair design is said to be one which is ergonomically designed.

In the scale of good chair design, the element that is probably least important is the look and design. Increasingly, more and more designers are looking at chair designs that are sleek, use various new materials and are exotic to look at. Very few people, if at all, try and replicate the traditional chair designs. In fact, walk into just about any home and you are likely to see all kinds of chair designs, except the traditional.

Finally, one of the most important, but oft ignored aspects of excellent chair design is the fact that the chair has to be sturdy and serve its user well and for long. Even ergonomically designed chairs are of no use if they don’t last for some time. This is because each individual user manages to mold the chair according to her/his particular sitting posture. And unless they are able to use that for some time to come, there is no point in having excellent design.